El Fenn
Style Traditional riad with an artist’s touch
Setting On the cusp of medina and souk
The unassuming doorway of this labyrinthine, 21-roomed property, leads onto three inner courtyards: pass through the a sensually lit courtyard with marble fountain and a rose-petal-filled basin, past a screening room, through antique carved wooden doors, up a tiny flight of steps to a WiFi'd library. El Fenn is the place for creatives to stay.
Need to know
- Rooms 20 rooms (and one private four-bedroom riad set away from the main house), most of them lofty open-plan suites, six with fireplaces and all with six-foot-wide beds and Egyptian cotton bedlinen, giant custom-built baths, and powerful showers.
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Rates
Double rooms from AU$128.26 (€91), excluding tax at 10 per cent.
The price shown represents the lowest nightly rate for a double room available at this hotel over the next 21 days. Any price conversions from the hotel's local currency (€91) have been conducted using today's exchange rates from xe.com.
- More details Rates include breakfast, mineral water, and an early-morning tray with tea, coffee and pastries.
- Facilities Spa and hammam, heated marble swimming pool, treatment room, mini cinema, free WiFi throughout, massive roof terrace with dining area, hanging garden, sun deck and heated reading pools, library, boutique, painting kits (oils and watercolour), yoga mats.
- Poolside Two pools. The hotel has a Carrara marble-lined pool in an serene and shaded open-air courtyard, surrounded by day-beds and a fire-pit; and a plunge pool on the roof, with a Berber-tented sitting area and sweeping views of the Atlas Mountains and the Koutoubia mosque.
- Check-out 1pm, with free late check-out whenever possible.
- Children Consult the hotel: El Fenn is not ideal for kids, though they love the pools, the pets and the cinema. Cots/extra bed available at no extra charge to under-12s. Babysitting available, €40 an evening. Rooms 10, 11 and the Douiria Suite are recommended.
Food and drink at El Fenn
- Hotel restaurant Daily-changing Mod Med-Maroc menus based on what’s in season from El Fenn’s organic garden suppliers: country-style at lunch, polished and inventive at supper, (both €30).
- Dress code As though you’re at home.
- Top table The little table facing the fireplace in the dining room, or the end table on the roof with a view of the Koutoubia.
- Last orders 4pm at lunch; 10.30pm at supper, unless pre-arranged otherwise. No time limits on breakfast. Can serve until midnight.
- Room service You can order up smoked salmon, foie gras, toasted sandwiches, desserts, and take meals in your room on request.
- Hotel bar As well as in the stylish Krug bar, guests are served drinks anywhere they like in the riad.
El Fenn Bab El Ksour, Medina, Marrakech
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Smith extra at El Fenn
Return airport transfers; members staying three nights or more will receive a traditional hammam for two
In the know
Our favourite rooms
The Douiria Suite, aka Room 6, is a split-level rock-star retreat with its own 600-foot private terrace with little unheated pool. Room 11 has deep-red walls, white marble fireplace, and private verandah. Room 10 is similar, but turquoise.
Packing tips
This Moorish hideaway is a jewel-coloured mishmash of patterns and textures, which will undoubtedly bring out your artistic side. Bring a sketchbook so you're ready when inspiration strikes.
Also
The artworks on display are by Bridget Riley, Antony Gormley, Frances Upritchard, Fiona Rae and so on. No pets allowed – El Fenn has its own tortoises, chameleon and iguana.
